4. Great Cookies

Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets
By Carole Walter, Clarkson Potter, 2003. Hardcover. $35; 416 pages

Carole Walter's Great Cookies journeys far beyond the land of Tollhouse and includes more than 200 recipes with almost as many color photos. The book leaps from a two-page introduction right into chapters organized by cookie types: Drop Cookies, Roll Call (rolled dough cutouts), Around the World, Meringues and Macaroons, and so on. The cook who's had problems with texture or doneness will want to first read 18 crucial pages on technique, part of a section called "The Teacher's Secrets for Sensational Cookies." Here are clear tips for success.